I just finished watching the DVD "Jiro Dreams of Suchi" about an octagenarian sushi chef in Tokyo. Apparently his sushi skills have made him some enemies--perhaps among them Anthony Bourdain, no slouch of a chef himself.

This graphic novel is set in a futuristic LA, a world dominated by food culture and where chefs are the new power. Jiro doesn't suffer fools gladly, nor customers who dip their nigiri in soy sauce and wasabi (or try to order California roll). Off with their heads--literally.

The back cover identifies this book as "Suggested for Mature Readers." Not too much sexual content, but lots of violence.  Look me up!

Maron is one of the current mystery writers who seems to be able to sustain a series welll and keep reader interest. Maybe that's because Judge Deborah Knott is such an interesting character.

In this book in the series, Knott and her husband go to New York City (the finest "three-day town" on earth, according to James Cameron) on their delayed honeymoon and in the course of their stay run into Liertenant Sigrid Harald of the NYPD (Harald being the protagonist in another of Maron's series). The three of them, plus some other characters introduced in the book, are busy invstigating a muder and some disappearances that end up being murders, too.

And there is the "Face Book" crime going on back at home and involving Judge Knott's nieces and nephews.

Maron, as usual, does a great job in keeping up the suspense and not revealing the culprits until the very end of the book. I recommend this book highly, but suggest it might make sense to start earlier in the series.  Look me up!

Ferris introduces us to the murderer in this story very early on and it's easy to cheer for him as villian because he is an unlikeable character. But it isn't until the end of the book that Ferris explains how he did it and confirms he is the "one." But at the same time, none of the other suspects seems like a probably murderer.

The scenes where the protagonist, Betsy, befriends the homeless woman who ends us helping her solve the mystery are pleasant and heart-warming, if not completely believable (or Betsy is just a much better person than I am). But overall pleasant and cozy.  Look me up!

This book has gotten great reviews. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I read it with someone or in a book club, because it is a book that I would have liked to discuss. I found it to be a very spiritual book. It seemed to be a bit laborious for me, but I think I wasn't in the right frame of mind. However, this book has many great lessons to be learned in it, and has stuck with me. It is like many things that don't come easy, but are worth it in the end. Would be a fantastic book for either an english class to discuss or any book club.

Maybe I just needed a new heroine, or maybe I was influenced by the back cover review by a favorite author of mine (albeit for a different book by Ms. Clark), but whatever the reason, I really liked this one.

It keeps moving at a fast clip throughout and has a satisfying ending. Recommend to anyone who likes Linda Fiarstein (another attorney turned author).   Look me up!

Couldn't get enough of this book. Great characters and wonderful plot twists and turns. One of the best summer reads in a long time. Hooked from the beginning and didn't want to put down. I haven't flip-flopped with characters before like in this book. Nick and Amy will sit with you long after you have finished reading this book. I enjoyed the style of this book and how Gillian Flynn made it so easy to delve in and live with such an exciting story for a while. I think I will go back and read her other novels. For those looking for super fun, easy, interesting, keeps you on your toes sort of book. Thank you to Ms. Flynn for letting me into your crazy ideas.  Look me up!

There are more kinds of small cats then just our pet cats. Most kinds of cats are not pet cats or big cats. They are the wild cats. The bobcat is one example. This book desribes in detail the ways of the small cat.

A fun early book of Agatha Christie's. It doesn't feature Poirot or Miss Marple, but the characters are engaging and the story is fun, although it starts off slowly. (I barely concentrated on the beginning the first time I read it, but then I had to go back and reread it more closely so I could better follow the plot.) As in other books by Christie, there are some "racialist" remarks -- they're apparently typical for their time, but can still be disconcerting to a modern reader. Barring that, the book was a good, light summer read and the ending was very satisfactory.  Look me up!

I got this book on a recommendation. It was an interesting read, with some good common-sense advice on healthy eating and living, and some more controversial (but apparently scientifically based) advice, as well. The program to counter "diabesity" seems fairly simple, although it would take six weeks of serious commitment. I bet it works well.  Look me up!

Good book.

Good reading-did not want to put book down.

Dunlap has been writing mysteries featuring women detectives for years, and this series (featuring a stunt woman, Darcy Lott) is my favorite.

Set in San Francisco and featuring a stunt at the Port of Oakland, the story revolves around the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the missing son of the Lott family, who disappeared shortly after the earthquake, and whose family has been looking for him for the past 20 years.

Part of what I enjoy about these books, and this one is no exception, is the local settings and the inside info on Hollywood stunts and the men and women who make them look so easy.

This story includes the collapse of buildings in the Marina district and subsequent injuries and deaths as a result of those collapses. Unfortunately Dunlap didn't do quite enough research into the cause of the collapses (soft stories--buildings with garages on the bottom floor) rather than inadequate building materials. But still an excellent book.  Look me up!

The Fear is the third installment of The Enemy series. These are a different type of post apocalyptic book in where there are two types of survivors. One the children under sixteen years old and the other are the diseased adults (and anyone over sixteen) who crave the flesh of the children. The story explains the struggles and fights the children endure daily to survive. don't be put off because the books are geared toward young adults. We are all young at heart, This really is a good read full of action! Check out the series!  Look me up!

I love Odd Thomas but this one was even too far out even for me. Odd is still witty and makes me LOL, Annamarie may shock you.

I love the detective stories of married couple, Stacy Sherlock and Dillon Savich. This time the killer (how many are they) get close to home and family. Redheaded Sherlock shows off her toughness in this novel. I loved it!

It is easy to imagine Berry's books as screenplays for a movie and this one was no exception. Like his others, there is a character from the Magellan Billet but that character dies very early in the book and isn't really important to the plot; unless I missed something, this book has all new characters and doesn't depend on characters and plots from previoius books.

What drives this book forward is the nexus of Jamaica, Israel, eastern European synagogues, and 1492. What do they have in common? SPOILER ALERT

Christopher Columbus being a Jew.  Look me up!

It seems only logical that by the time an author writes the 16th book in a series, the author would run out of good ideas and that seems to be the case in this 16th book of the Goldy Schultz, the caterer, series.

Although Goldy repeatedly tells herself she shouldn't interfer with her husband's investigation of varioius crimes, including murder, she jumps in and demonstrates her complete lack of common sense at every opportunity. If this is what Coloradans are like, I can better understand why that state has been the home to recent mass shootings.

Of course, the characters in the book defy logic and alll come through safely, even though as a reader I wasn't sure I wanted them all to. This book had some really unpleasant characters, and they weren't the "criminals".

Maybe I need to go back and read some of the earlier books in this series so I will care about these characters more.   Look me up!

This book was a bit predictable, though obviously geared toward a younger audience. I enjoyed the writing style of Okorafor but I enjoyed her book Akata Witch much better; perhaps because it was written later in her career and has more excitement and substance to its plot. Nonetheless an entertaining quick read.  Look me up!

An Alex Cross mystery. As we follow Alex through his private life and troubles, Mary Smith, serial killer intrudes.

Who is she and what drives her?

The surprising denouement is unexpected.

This book of essays is amazing. Basically, Gladwell learns about amazing things and then writes about them in a really accessible way. You get the gripping history of RonCo, the touching work of dog whisperer Cesar Milan, and lots more. MY continuing favorite essay from this book is one where he studies the myth of the young genius - the idea that geniuses will necessarily be youthful prodigies and peak at like age 7 - and demonstrates that in fact there are (at least) two kinds of genius. There are people who do peak early, and there are "late bloomers" who don't peak until they are 40 or 70 or whatever - who often spend all the years before that producing nothing, or producing a bunch of false and ignored starts, because they're collecting all the information they need to create their masterpiece. Totally inspiring stuff.